Okay the Aleksara... Wendell fight was kind of epic... had me really worried when I heard they were going 2 vs 3.
I'm glad you liked it though! I'm needing to beef everything up a little for the 5-man+Chett and was trying to feel out what I can toss at the group with this encounter to reach the XP targets. Broke it up a little bit so I'd have options depending on how things rolled. Overall you guys are handling it well, you're a fun group to run!
So we need to decide what to do here.
1. Do we let Roscoe go now?
2. We need the ring.
3. We are willing to negotiate for it?
4. Who goes, and who stays (if anybody).
5. What do we do if we get overwhelmed by the buggers? Can we run?
6. Should we try and burn the tree down if they attack? (that would ruin the ring of course...)
7. I don't know...Suggestions? Infiltration? Arbitration? Humiliation?
They are Fey? What really drives such creatures?
1. Let him go... But offer him his choice of gear if he helps with the mites... And a horse if he travels back to Oleg's with us....
2. I don't think the ring is a must have at this point... But we need to feel out the situation here for the purpose of the overall mission.
3. Alfentinius would prefer negotiations, although this feels like the mites are going to want us to kill the kobolds and the kobolds will want us to kill the mites... Choose a side.
4. I think we all should roll up
5. no ideas
6. Um... Druid secondary class ... Really not a fan of killing the tree
7. You know my vote ... All about the arbitration... But be ready for "aggressive negotiations" if discussions break down.
1. I agree with Alfentinius.
2. I think we should try to get the ring.
3. I'm not sure what we can offer in return, possibly some of the bandit equipment.
4. I think everyone should go.
5. Jerrik would not likely run. If he did, he'd have to be the last out.
6. Burning the tree seems like a last resort. It's like a national landmark.
7. Walk up and demand the ring, see what happens. Let Alfentinius try to talk it out. It seems unlikely to get the ring and avoid a fight though.
OK so far the vote is to walk up with our hands up (basically) and offer them a negotiation:
Fey like alcohol right? Let's see if they will take some of the odd bottles of the Stags' stuff and see if they will trade the ring for a bottle of two?
If things get bad, Jerrik, Arim and I will try and hold them off so the others can retreat some distance. Then we will fall back under Wendell's and Al's cover fire. Basic tactics, right?
Al you are the only one here with the language skills to talk with them, so you will have to interpret for us the whole way. Can you say...give a signal that things are going badly without hinting that to the mites?
Also as a second thought, maybe Chett should stay up here out of direct sight? Fey often have abilities to control animals and such, and Chett could make a good back-up in case we have to run.
What do you think Wendell? Does that make sense? Everyone?
OK,
Everyone...I hate to break up the current streak we have going on here but I have quick question I would like to ask.
First of all, I did run this by the GM first. I got the OK to ask this of the rest of you and I will sum this up as best I can:
I have a friend who likes PBPs but has had several bad experiences with them in the past (the games all died out quickly and/or he had a hard time getting selected for one). Personal NOTE: He's my normal IRL GM for Pathfinder.
Currently he's recovering from Cancer at home with little to do I think.
I know we are already a little PC heavy as far as players go, but we are lacking a bit (mainly a full healer or a rogue type). I was originally thinking GM Fez might have wanted to play, but he seems disinterested.
Would any of you mind if I see if he would be interested to join in?
Truthfully I don't know if he's even interested, and he can be a bit crass IRL at times, but he's a really good guy in the end with good role-playing skills. I also think the Cancer has mellowed him out a bit.
What do you all think? I am not willing to do this unless everybody thinks it is OK/agrees. I will not have ANY hard feelings about this in any way...so please be honest. I just thought I would throw it up there for you guys and see if anybody shot it down.
-And sorry for the wall of text.
=)
I don't think I'll have a problem with it. I've met a few players that I'd rather not game with, but as long as he's not them, I'm good with it.
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I agree with almost all of your points.
We should try and trade with them, let the Mites know we would be valuable allies. However, I would prefer we all go up together. If we have to flee they would be drawn out of their lair to chase us, which takes away any home field advantage they would have. Plus, going up together shows strength, anticipating retreat shows weakness. We want them to respect us and fear what will happen if they try anything (now or later). In Wendell's opinion, this is out turf now and their continued existence depends on their acceptance of that fact.
Also, if we have to choose sides in their fight, we will need to speak with the Kobolds first before making an informed and beneficial decision.
How do we get their attention? Knock? Yell hello? I think we should try and draw them to the opening our outside rather than us entering their domain (and tight quarters).
As for your friend joining the group, I have split feelings on it. We have a good chemistry and sometimes one person can unbalance a group. That said, an experienced player (and addition to our group) would be nice. And I can't fault someone for being crass! I'll go either way on that decision.
So, let's go knock. See how it goes with our new neighbors.
Couldn't agree more with what's been said, but I'm not keen at all on giving the mites any weapons or armour. Maybe some booze, maybe... But Arim will be on edge, he feels like this should be a fight not a talk, but is happy to at least try talking.
As far as newcomers, I'm with Wendell. This group has so much good chemistry, it feels like a risk. But at the same time new blood can be great, and I absolutely don't have a problem with crass.
A
I appreciate the support and the faith in my idea.
Just need to hear from Al so I'm sure.
Invite him already... Don't wait for me... Why you keeping the guy waiting?.... Where's he at? Why isn't he here yet? Geesh...
Just a thought... Why don't we ride in as merchants. Like not pretending but let's really see about unloading some of the stuff we have. The mites being small size won't have interest in any of the weapons or armor... It's too big for them. The alcohol... Objects de art , boxes of food, and furs may be a different matter.
As pin as Oleg gets his share of the profits, and Svetlana gets her ring back I have a feeling they would be on board too.
That works for me.
Works for me.
=)
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Good plan. I'll play the part of caravan guide (something I know well already).
It will allow us to get a better picture of their numbers, habitat, etc.
One thing, we might want to clean the blood off any weapons and armor before we try to sell them... Might look suspicious. Wendell will use some Create Water spells to wash them, lest we look like bandits ourselves.
Invite sent.
Thanks guys. You are the best.
=)
So does your friend know they have to play a (vcm rogue) Cleric of Erastil named Roscoe Oscarshire ?
Just kidding of course.
Lol, I was thinking the same thing
No I didn't...but I can suggest it!
=)
Can't hurt either way I think.
The rule is usually 1 spell a round at 6 seconds a round for 10 spells a minute, or 600 spells a hour (blazing fast!), or 14,400 a day... I would expect to have some concentration and fortitude checks during a day like that though...
Something similar to this is actually my strategy with Vivian. Stabilize a dying enemy, use virtue in succession to bring them to consciousness, interrogate them, then let the temp hit points lapse naturally and they fade back into black.
Thought we should make a list of things the mites may want to trade for their prisoner...
Things I'm thinking of.
1.Box of furs... the better to dressup as animals and scare people with. WE have 3 crates each worth 50 gp
2.Alcohol... Everyone loves alcohol... we have 8 bottles each worth 20gp
3.Bear trap... only worth 2 gps...
4.Coins... we have various types of couins worth 313.1gp with us
I know Aleksara you mentioned the alchemists fire... but that may be our only answer to swarms at the moment.
How much value are we willing to trade for the kobold captive?
Any other ideas?
If we have to do it?
Grab the Kobold and fight our way if things turn south.
Otherwise...
I've got 5 javelins that are probably the equivalent to spears for these little guys.
3 Spare daggers, that would be swords to these guys (But I think the wagon has extra daggers too).
I've still got a potion of Cure Light Wounds and the silver stag head amulet that we can trade if absolutely needed. But I would prefer to keep them.
Finally, I've got my skills as a weapons smith. If needs be I can offer my abilities to make appropriate weapons for their size later, once I have a forge of course...maybe set up a standard trade? A certain number of Mite size spears for say...something the mites could gather in return to trade? Local medicinal herbs, local free range Honey, or even collected various (vermin) venom/poisons possibly? (All three?) The possibilities are very intriguing if we can really do it.
@Al and Wendell-BTW: You've both probably healed that 1 missing hit point since we rested 2 days .
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I wish we could disable the bear trap before trading it - may keep someone from being harmed by one of their pranks.
There's not much in my inventory worth trading to Mites, but I think we have a good list so far. If we set the bear trap and let it snap on a stick they might be impressed. I'd prefer we avoid giving away anything too valuable unless necessary, but we'll see how the negotiations go.
I think our potion of Cure Light Wounds and silver stag amulet should be absolute last resorts, those could both be lifesavers down the road.
A business relationship with the Mites could be very beneficial to both of us, but it won't be easy. Worth a try.
@Aleksara - Thanks for the HP reminder!
Just wanted to do a quick check to see if PLAYERS.... were cool with the way things went down with the mite encounter.
I know these social interactions can be duller for the combat oriented characters... and the fact that Alfentinius was the only one that could speak under-common meant he was the only one really interacting with the mites.
The honest truth though is that Alfentinius is not meant to be a combat character. Right now his only combat spell is Ray of Frost. He has very good social skills... and the plan for the character is to abuse spells like suggestion and Dominate. So left to him allot of fights will be shortened or completely headed off through diplomacy, mind-control, or spells like sleep. We'll end up with allot more conversations with NPC's and have to discuss what to do with captives... ALLOT!
I wanted to put this out there now so that if anyone thinks this doesn't feel like a fun way to run the campaign... (i.e. less combat, more NPC Interaction) I can start heading off some of this with different spell selections as we level.
GM... this includes you too...
I'm good with it. I have plenty of combat focused games. Since I'm playing a paladin, I'd almost prefer to talk first and attack last.
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I'm way more than just okay with it - I'm thrilled to have a campaign that is different that the standard "kill everything in that cave" sort of business because that's the basis of every RPG campaign I've ever played. This one seems different, and I'm excited for that!
Having said that, there are still times where I will absolutely lean towards combat over conversation, and brute force over trickery. That's mainly due to the fact that Wendell (and others in our group) are not Charisma-based, and I want to be sure our skill sets are utilized as well.
So long as everyone has a good role, I'm all good.
On a side note, Alf you slayed those diplomacy and bluff rolls throughout the conversation with the Mites! THAT WAS AWESOME! I know we were supposed to go in there and kill every Mite, but that was a satisfying alternative. It might have some cool consequences later, might even blow up in our faces, but I'm totally impressed and happy with the current outcome.
I'm perfectly fine with the way things went, and truth be told I plan on taking plenty of combat related spells myself so do not worry about it too much there.
ALL I ask is that you take at least 1 GOOD basic/useful combat(Like Magic Missile) or even a just a decent summoning spell at higher levels. You can even swap it out every once in a while as you level.
History: I am currently playing in a PBP game with a gnome fashionista fey-sorcerer (pacifist), and it is the most annoying thing to fight any creatures immune to mind effecting spell and enchantments (tons of undead, swarms and other vermin, and of course slimes and puddings) and basically having the most powerful spellcaster in our group not be able to do anything but hide and scream. She finally agreed to use a wand of magic missile we found, but she's used up all 6 charges in ONE combat against some incorporeal undead. Now she's back to hiding and cowering again in a HAUNTED HOUSE!
I'm all for roleplaying and such, but I'd just hate for us to hit a TPK just because I couldn't bring enough, or the right kind, of fire-power to the table. That's just my 2 cents however. Take it or leave it as you will!
=)
It's some fresh air for me too. The Path, like all paths I imagine, is written without most encounters having a "combat alternative" win. That Mite hole was one of those, it was a fun challenge though. Please let me know if anyone feels like I'm railroading the game too.
I wanted to have enough rolls in there that failure was possible, but not forced. Also, you guys cleared a DC 30 on pretty much every check... impressive at level 1.
To me a good balance of combat and diplomacy events are ideal though, which also aligns with the parties skills set at first glance.
To Alfs points of entertainment in the PbP medium, I tried to speed it up for that sake. Please chime in on if I should auto-roll more next time or if that worked well. Spent about a day and a half in there?
Like I said, it went fine by me GM. That includes your part too.
=)
That was really well played, I enjoyed it!
Arim has social skills, but his default will be a good punch up.
I liked the pace of that, the trouble with diplomacy as a strategy in my experience is that GM's tend to make it really long winded, so it takes as long as if you'd been in initiative time. Tht was smooth and fast but not just washed over, liked it.
On Kobold vs Mite, Arim will favour the Kobold. Not sure why but he does.
He will be happy to talk with both parties, though will object to the trading of any weapons, dealing arms in land we want to see pacified is anathema to his soldier's brain.
History: I am currently playing in a PBP game with a gnome fashionista fey-sorcerer (pacifist), and it is the most annoying thing to fight any creatures immune to mind effecting spell and enchantments (tons of undead, swarms and other vermin, and of course slimes and puddings) and basically having the most powerful spellcaster in our group not be able to do anything but hide and scream. She finally agreed to use a wand of magic missile we found, but she's used up all 6 charges in ONE combat against some incorporeal undead. Now she's back to hiding and cowering again in a HAUNTED HOUSE!
I'm all for roleplaying and such, but I'd just hate for us to hit a TPK just because I couldn't bring enough, or the right kind, of fire-power to the table. That's just my 2 cents however. Take it or leave it as you will!
=)
Ouch.... Yeah the weakness of the Sorcerer is you only have a couple good spells to work with although you can cast them over and over... and if those ones don't do the trick you're screwed. Problem gets better with levels as your repertoire gets larger... but still you have to try and balance spell selection between... spells that focus on what your good at, spells for when things are immune to what you're good at, and still have a couple slots for party utility(i.e. haste or energy resistance).
Although stockpiling Page's of spell knowledge never hurts either.
Well that's where magic scrolls, wands, staves, and rings will help later really too!
=)
OK,
we need to discuss what we are going to do with the Kobolds once we get the ring back.
Should we forge alliances with them like we did the Mites?
Technically, they will fight each other endlessly if we leave them to it, and it should not be a bad thing in the end. Right?
But if we ally ourselves with them both and start trading...what are we doing? Would we end up just being arms dealers to the two armies really? I DO have some qualms about that...
If this was Civilization I would probably go with the kobolds since they're excellent miners. Jerrik would agree with the lets not be arms dealers angle. Otherwise I really don't know. So far the mites have kept their word. It would heavily depend on how the first meeting with the kobolds go, at least for me.
Well the Mites are Lawful Evil I think so they may be mischievous, but they should keep their word as long as we do too.
I'm worried about the kobolds and their god-figure however. Religion can easily be a disrupting influence on diplomacy...if it wants to be or is used in that capacity.
I would rather keep both as possible allies later, and somehow stalemate or end their feud. But that would take some MAJOR diplomacy...or a situation that would force them to work together somehow.
Kobolds are usually LE as well, per the bestiary.
Fair enough...Still, I worry that their Religion could be a stumbling block to any diplomacy we may try.
For now:
What is our objective at this with the Kobolds?
1. Get Ring
2. Get out alive!
or
1. Establish diplomatic relations.
2. Get the Ring as part of the diplomacy.
3. Set groundwork for future diplomacy and hope the Mites don't find out?
4. Get out alive!!
=)
Either way, let's get that ring back and head back to Oleg's.
... Also, what do we do when the Mites notice that we didn't kill all the Kobold's. Do we end up fighting them, continue decieving them, work with them. Obviously there are allot of unknowns between now and the next time we see them but we should start thinking about overall strategies and how we want to approach the campaign. Keep in mind we still don't know allot about our environment and waiting to make these decisions till we know more is viable.
At some point we will be making our own kingdom and need to be pacifying the surrounding area. Whether by sword or diplomacy. It simply will not do to be unable to send a supply wagon and have it taken over by some random group of Mites or Kobold's we didn't have the heart to kill. So we need to start thinking about what our civilization is going to look like.
Here's my own personal vision for the kingdom. I would like a true neutral kingdom where there are core races as well as Kobold's Lizard Men, fae ... Etc... Etc... If we made that our goal we would have to spend ALLOT of time playing referee. But I say we treat the monsters the same way we do the Bandits. Give them a chance to play nice or we "Pacify" them. Mind you Pacify looks different based on the specifics of the situation.
For now I say get the ring and lay the ground work for future positive negotiations with the Kobold's.
That works for me. I've always been a fan of civilzation can be useful even for the uncivilized idea.
I even thought up a possible name for the kingdom when the time comes: 'The Swordlands'
It references our allegiances with the Aldori Swordlords,
and what it took to pacify the realm.
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I would like to avoid genocide of any group, and hope we can find a way to be diplomatic and end their wars with one another. However, if we are unable to change their nature and keep them from being a constant threat to the people of the realm, then they will have to be dealt with harshly.
An overall strategy is difficult to decide this early, but I think we could consider lording over both and creating boundaries that separate the Mite and Kobold lands. That will take some time and hard work, as we want to establish ourselves as friends, but superiors, while also quelling their conflicts.
@Aleksara - 'The Swordlands' is a good name for the kingdom. I like that. I'm up for other ideas, too. We will also have to decide on leadership or responsibility structure down the road.
So when do we start to try and conquer the other three settlement groups that the Sword Lords sent out? :)
There's been talk of going to the Sootscale's and of going to Oleg's, what are you guys thinking?
I would rather go straight to the Kobolds mine since they are close by...and I would rather not show the Kobolds where Oleg's location is if we can help it.
My vote is head south to the Sootscales.
Side note... I was thinking... What if we told the Kobold's that the Mites wanted peace. That sending the statue back was there idea. Then on the way north we stop by the tree and tell the Mites that the Kobold's want peace and drop off a gift of some kind.
Love it Alfentinious!
I think unless we are willing to commit genocide we need to find a way of making peace between the two, even if that is by force "don't fight or we'll kill you" style.
I say we head to the kobolds too, I don't think we have any reason to go back to Oleg's yet.
The wife gave birth to baby #2 yesterday, posting shouldn't change too much but just a heads up in case a few days get busy.
Holly **** congrats Viv...!
What ya got?